Saturday, 29 March 2014

Recently I discovered this lovely website called 'Escentual'. I'm sure many of you may have heard of this site before but if you haven't then it's basically lots of French pharmacy items which obviously we can't get hold of in the UK! They have great deals on at the moment too on their french pharmacy items and it's free delivery if you spend over £30 which is a great deal.

I've heard so many good things about this lip balm and I seem to be suffering with some super dry lips recently. This is a super thick lip balm and feels super nourishing on the lips. It lasts for a great amount of time and I'm excited to keep using it! It's obviously slightly more expensive than your usual lip balm but it's definitely worth it and ten times better than my Dr.Lipp nipple balm.

Anything with the words 'anti-imperfection' catches my eye and again this is a brand I've heard lots about but never actually tried myself. This is aimed to care for your oily and imperfection prone skin, keeping it hydrated all day. I love the packaging of this, I like pumps they make things much simpler. I haven't used this too much but it is very hydrating and has a pleasant smell to it.

Now I love the La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo+ so I thought I would branch out into the brand and try something different. This is also help target blemishes and they say it's a precision breakout corrector. Another plus is that this is paraben free so there's no nasties in their which is always a good thing. I haven't tried this enough yet to give anything away but I'll let you know how I get on.

This shampoo is aimed at oily hair and said to give your scalp a bit of a detox. It's also meant to give you more time between washes which is something I would love. Having to wash my hair every other day can sometimes become a bit of a chore. I've only used this once so far and I did enjoy it but cannot give a full review just yet.

I simply purchased this conditioner as it was suggested that with the nettle shampoo. This is aimed to protect, nourish and detangle your dry hair and this seriously smells amazing. Detangling and dry ends is what my hair suffers from so I had high hopes for this. Again I have only used once so a full review along with the shampoo will come soon I'm sure.

I would definitely recommend shopping on Escentual's website, they have great offers - currently 1/3 off French pharmacy items which is a great discount! The delivery was really fast and efficient also which was great. Let me know if you've shopped with Escentual before or if you've tried any of the products I purchased :-)

Friday, 21 March 2014

So another belated post as it seems forever ago since I went to Paris and since my 21st birthday, but finally I'm showing you the beauty bits and bobs that I purchased whilst I was in Paris. Now as you can tell I didn't go wild, I was a silly beauty blogger and didn't find out about any French skin care or make up brands before going out so when looking and it all being in French I didn't have a clue what they were. I knew there were definitely a couple of things I hand my eye on but another thing is that the Euro to pound conversion is practically the same, so things out there weren't any cheaper.

The first place I obviously made my mum stop was Sephora. I've never been into one before and there was one literally about a minutes walk away from our hotel = bonus. So there were a couple of trips made there. The first two things I bought were from Smashbox which you can obviously get in the UK. First I got the Blemish Control primer which I've had my eye on for a while! The lady in the shop actually took my make up off and used these two products and I fell in love with the finished look. The foundation is the Studio Skin Hydrating foundation in the colour 1.1. These two products work really well together and so far am enjoying using them.

Next was my 21st birthday splurge. I've never spent so much money on a lipstick before but just look at it simply. It's so god darn beautiful. I actually purchased this at the airport on the way home as it worked out cheaper than it did at Sephora or even back in the UK obviously so ended up being just under £20 I believe. It's the Volupte Sheer Candy from YSL in shade 6. It's the most wearable red ever, you can simply apply one layer for a sheer but noticeable red lip or you can really build it up for a more intense red lip. So far I'm loving it!

And finally the cult French pharmacy buy which I just had to have really. I know there are now a few UK brand versions of the Bioderma but I needed to try the original for myself! I actually got the combination/oily skin type one which I actually didn't know existed until I was out there. It's obviously brilliant at taking your make up off and again I've really enjoyed using it. They come in different sizes etc so I just went for the one in the middle which is 250ml, but this can also be purchased from online now and delivered to the UK from certain websites.

Overall so far I'm loving everything I purchased in Paris which is a bonus and doesn't always happen! I hope you enjoyed this small Paris haul and let me know if you've tried any of these products :-)

Sunday, 16 March 2014

I'm never normally one to go out and splurge on a perfume so I was lucky enough to receive this as a present. I actually got this way back for Christmas from my mum and still cannot get over how gorgeous the bottle is. Now I've always lusted over Marc Jacobs perfume bottles but to actually see this on my dressing table is pretty awesome. The lid is a gorgeous navy, red, fuchsia flower with a green leaf and the bottle is purple and a nice, sophisticated shape.

I didn't know I was going to get this so I didn't choose the scent myself but it smells amazing! Mum did good. I know perfumes differ from person to person so what someone loves others will hate. This perfume is known to be pretty heavy and 100% floral scent. I personally love it as I've said, you only need a few sprays and it lasts pretty long on the skin and obviously even longer on clothes etc. It's described as "Sexy with a flirtacious wink. A warm floral bouquet with a signature
note of lucious fuschia peony. Designed by Marc Jacobs as an over the
top bouquet exploding from the bottle" I must say I do agree, definitely floral and definitely noticeable.

I know I love this scent and if you're into florals then this one is definitely one you should try. I'd love to try a different Marc Jacobs perfume to compare as other reviews suggest this is the strongest scent. I'd love to know if you've tried this perfume or what your favourite Marc Jacobs perfume is?

Sunday, 9 March 2014

What a beautiful day it is today in England! There hasn't been a cloud in sight all day and I decided to spend my day by the beach with my mum and dog - chilled. So I finally have edited a few of the pictures I took from my recent trip to Paris for my 21st birthday. I didn't want to bombard this post with pictures so just chose this select few to share with you.

I enjoyed Paris so much, everything was super pretty and for years I've wanted to see and go up the Eiffel tower so we did just that. It was so amazing, the view from half way up was incredible! We didn't go right to the top just because we didn't pick the best day for weather to go up it (it was foggy) so they told us there was reduced visibility so we just went half way. We were typical tourists including the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe, Champs Elysees and then just general walking around. It's such a nice city to simply just walk around and see what you come across. Of course there was some shopping involved, although the exchange rate isn't that different so things didn't work out much cheaper, if any!

Saturday, 1 March 2014

So I've tried to jump on the tumblr bandwagon probably twice before and have just never got the hang of it. This time was third time lucky and I'm hoping that I might actually be getting there. I'm still new to this whole thing and only had it a couple of days but seem to be enjoying it a little more. I mean the amount of cute, amazing, pretty and cool pictures you can find is pretty darn cool in itself. You can clearly tell what someone loves by checking out what they've blogged or reblogged onto their page. I mean who doesn't love Disney Tangled and Frozen, Lauren Conrad and the Hills, Christina Aguilera and Burlesque? Silly question, everyone.

I think this may soon become one of my new addictions but I would love to share my tumblr journey with all you other bloggers who have tumblr. I don't follow many blogs at the moment so if you're reading this and you have a tumblr account then please leave the link below in the comments so I can check yours out! :-)

The link to my page is: http://natalieellis23.tumblr.com/ and I'd love for you to also check mine out and let me know what you think/if I have actually got the hang of it correctly! Ha ha

BA Honours Degree in Children's Care, Learning and Development and working in a children's nursery. I have a passion for writing about all things beauty related with the occasional lifestyle/fashion post.